Hi. It’s Dana. Welcome to the Web 2.5 newsletter featuring news, content, musings, and memes at the intersection of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. This week we've got:

• A partially clear deep dive into a new NFT collection, Art Gobblers.

• A summary of our latest podcast episode with Matt Smolin, Co-Founder & CEO of Hang.xyz.

• The full weekly roundup of news and views in web2 meets web3.

So, let's get after it. Some graffiti, because why not...

💥 Breakdown of the Week: Art Gobblers 💥

Just like every month there seems to be a new trending TikTok dance, so too must we have a rotating series of break-out NFT collections.

This week, the trophy went to Art Gobblers, an NFT collection designed by Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland in conjunction with the VC firm Paradigm.

How do the NFTs work? Honestly, it’s pretty confusing, but I’ll do my best.

• You can buy an NFT of a character.

• That character produces GOO tokens.

• The benefit of the GOO is that you can use it to create new art from "blank pages," mint those "drawn pages" as NFTs, and then ingest the pages back into your NFT, turning your NFT into an on-chain art gallery that holds all of the art you’ve collected.

• You can also use GOO tokens to accumulate GOO faster or acquire more Gobblers.

• There are also 10 Legendary rare Gobblers.

• It’s basically something like this:

Before you ask why people want this -- the answer is I don’t know. Why do people like to watch cartoons, collect or make art, or just want to “win” any kind of game? I’m not sure really, but this collection is basically the combination of all three.

While obtaining an initial NFT was free, secondary sales volume hit $26.7 million in just 24 hours. By comparison (and kudos to anyone who read last week’s newsletter), Reddit’s NFT hit $10 million in cumulative sales in 3 months.

Most of the conversation this week was around speculation that influencers were given special allocations in the mint, resulting in the massive price increase on the secondary market. The cheapest available NFT is currently listed for around $23K, and one NFT sold for nearly $138K on Monday evening. So to state the obvious, if you’d minted one for free, could could have flipped it for a profit quickly.

So while I’m sure there’s a very interesting case study here on leveraging influencers for your marketing plan, from my perspective, here's what's most interesting:

• Star power matters. The Rick & Morty brand helped drive a lot of interest here. A track record in web2 sells in web3.

• Badge value matters. These NFTs act like public art galleries. What you collect is on display (albeit in the belly of your character) -- and as we’ve seen time and time again, what you own is as much about what it says about you as it is the utility you get from it.

• Game mechanics matter. Behind the scenes was some complex math & economics. For anyone who thinks that these are “just jpegs,” the smartest NFT teams have even smarter analysts and economists working through the game mechanics to create the right incentive structures. Don't believe me? There's math like this behind the scenes:

So there you have it. I hope this was somewhat interesting. If none of it makes sense, that might also be the point. Sometimes things that work and that are successful just aren’t logical, at first, at all.

💥 New Podcast Episode 💥

We dropped our third Web 2.5 podcast this week with guest Matt Smolin, Co-Founder & CEO of Hang.xyz. Matt and the team at Hang are leveraging NFTs to help brands drive customer retention and lifetime value with simple-to-use, no-code tools.

Have a listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 🎧

💥 Weekly Web 2.5 News Roundup 💥

📺 Media & Entertainment

Shutterstock has partnered with OpenAI to begin selling stock images created with AI. The stock image giant is also launching a "Contributor Fund," which will reimburse creators when their art is sold to train the text-to-image models.

FWIW, here are four images I generated with the search term "Conference room of co-workers reviewing a presentation" on OpenAI's DALL-E to see how it might compare to stock imagery. They turned out pretty much same-same. So as the old saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, partner with 'em.

👠 Fashion, Beauty & Accessories

Burberry and Minecraft have collaborated to launch the in-game adventure, Burberry: Freedom to Go Beyond, to expand the British luxury house's metaverse presence. This partnership consists of multiple virtual experiences, along with a physical collection that is available online and in seven global stores.

Ralph Lauren and gaming empire Fortnite have partnered to create the US brand's first phygital collection. The physical and in-game clothing, including jumpsuits, sweaters, shirts, and boots, will feature a polo player sitting atop the Fortnite llama logo. Words I never thought I would write.

Gucci's virtual world, Gucci Vault Land, is now open on The Sandbox, making it the first luxury fashion brand to have digital real estate on the platform. The space will house the brand's NFTs, vintage items, and other web3 assets.

Remember Starter Jackets? Well, what's old is new. VeeFriends and Starter have collaborated to create the IRL merchandise collection, VeeFriends x Starter. VeeFriends S1 and S2 Ape holders can purchase the limited edition Starter Alert Ape Jacket for $285.

Also on the topic of my childhood, retail company Claire's has opened the virtual city, Zalpha, in the Roblox gaming metaverse. Makes me wonder which you have to be older for these days — getting your ears pierced or getting a Roblox account.

🥓 Food & Bev

Hillshire Farm (yes meats and snacks) has opened a gaming experience in Decentraland, featuring its iconic red barn. Players are challenged to quickly build a sandwich, and can earn "Barn Bucks" that unlock in-game wearables such as The Rope Sausage Belt and Farm Overalls.

🛍️ Retail & CPG

UK-based NFT marketplace, myNFT, has placed a physical NFT vending machine at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in Westminster. The machine accepts contactless payment methods, including Apple and Google Pay, and dispenses unique QR codes for NFTs that can be redeemed on myNFT.

Philips Norelco, the self-care brand, launched "Shavetopia" in the Roblox gaming universe. The hub allows players to choose from and purchase facial hairstyles for their avatars.

🎮 Games & Gaming

Todd McFarlane, The Amazing Spiderman creator, is entering the metaverse with his first-ever digital collection of classic McFarlane Toys. The SPAWN LAUNCH SERIES will include Spawn, The Redeemer, and The Clown and debuts on December 1st.

👩‍💻 Tech

There's lots happening in the world of Twitter this week (starting with Elon Musk taking over). Twitter will now allow users to buy, sell, and display NFTs through an integration titled NFT Tweet Tiles. The new integration works with Magic Eden, Rarible, Dapper Labs, and Jump.trade marketplaces. It also was reported that Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao, CEO of Binance, invested $500 million in Elon Musk's recent Twitter takeover. Zhao is contributing to ensure that crypto and Web3 "[have] a seat at the table when it comes to free speech" on Twitter.

Meta's Reality Labs metaverse lost $3.67 billion in Q3 of 2022, which contributed to the company's $9.43 billion year-to-date loss.

Instagram will now let you mint and trade NFTs.

💰 Finance

Banking giant JPMorgan is exploring the idea of creating a digital wallet that will enable holders to control their digital identity and assets across web3, DeFi, and the metaverse. Plus...

🚀 Markets

Two leading NFT brands, CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, have each regained a $1 billion market value through increased floor prices.

The top five NFT marketplaces have reached more than $40 billon in all-times sales. OpenSea tops the list with $33 billion followed by Axie Marketplace ($4.26B), Magic Eden ($1.83B), Looksrare ($1.62B), and X2Y2 ($891M).

The memecoin cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, experienced a jump of more than 14% and a 30-day high of 8 cents after self-proclaimed Dogefather and Chief Twit, Elon Musk, finalized his purchase of Twitter.

CryptoPunk transaction, CryptoPunk #5822, was named the most expensive crypto sale in the Guinness Book or World Records section, "CryptoMania." A rare alien CryptoPunk wearing a blue bandana was sold for 8,000 ETH or $23 million in February of 2022.

💸 Fundraising

Google bought Alter, a Twitter-backed AI avatar startup, for $100 million in an attempt to better compete with TikTok.

Bloomberg Beta led a $6.2 million funding round to help Origami build its software platform, infrastructure, and DAO playbook.

Magdalena “Mags” Kala, a former Bain investor, launches $30M web3 consumer VC fund.

✏️ Education

Roblox and The Parsons School of Design partnered to create a metaverse course that will help students design hyper-realistic, 3D digital apparel. The announcement was made via the release of a joint Metaverse Fashion Trend Report.

💛 Social Good

In anticipation of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Visa is launching five soccer-themed NFTs to raise money for Street Child United, a UK-based charity for underserved kids. The digital collectibles will feature iconic goals from professional athletes including Jared Borgetti, Tim Cahill, Carli Lloyd, Michael Owen, and Maxi Rodríguez.

™️ Trademarks Don't Lie

NBA megastar Steph Curry plans to enter the metaverse by filing a trademark application for his virtual world, "Curryverse." The digital world will showcase online gaming services, where players can participate in NFT transactions, virtual apparel, business management, charitable fundraising services, and software as a service (SaaS) programs.

✨ Web3 Deals, Drops & Alpha

NFT marketplace LooksRare will no longer require collectors to pay royalties but will instead distribute 25% of platform fees to creators and collection owners. The company is implementing this new structure as a "competitive solution that still benefits creators."

The creators of move-to-earn game STEPN, Find Satoshi Lab, launched the Ethereum and Solana NFT marketplace, MOOAR, which comes with mandatory royalty fees and a $29.90 monthly subscription fee. This policy will guarantee that creators are paid for each of their digital collectible transactions.

Zora has launched the Ethereum-based project, Nouns Builder, a tool for creating NFT-driven DAOs. Nouns are a subset of profile picture (PFP) collections, which are typically used to represent a user on social media. The software has raised millions of dollars worth of ETH.

📚 Weekend Reading

Roblox Isn’t The Metaverse – Why It’s The Closest Thing Marketers Have to Web3. AdAge.

Even as NFTs Plummet, Digital Artists Find Museums Are Calling. NYTimes.

Insights From The ‘2022 Metaverse Fashion Trends’ Report. Roblox x Parsons.

🌶️ Hot Takes

Loyalty Programs Are Broken – Are NFTs the Solution? The Drum.

NFTs are Forever. Monologue by Bobby Hundreds.

🧰 Job Market

• Tech Talent Migrates to Web3 As Large Companies Face Layoffs. Cointelegraph.

• Cool Cats Terminates Staff Members Without a Given Reason. NFT Evening.

• Dapper Labs Slashes Staff by 22 Percent, Citing 'Macroeconomic Environment'. Decrypt.

📣 Open Jobs

• Group Creative Director - Metaverse/Web3, Razorfish. Apply.

• General Manager, Sports Studio, Dapper Labs. Apply.

• Director, Head of Consumer Marketing, Roblox. Apply.

💀 And Finally

🫶 And that’s a wrap! Thanks for reading Web 2.5. See you out there in the interweb3s.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is strictly educational. None of this is financial or investment advice — and not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please always Christian DYOR (Do Your Own Research).